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More than half of the countries are unlikely to reach the UN target of reducing by one third by 2030 premature mortality due to a quartet of chronic diseases, researchers said Friday.
Cancers, heart and blood vessel diseases, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases have killed 12.5 million people aged 30 to 70 in the world in 2016, they said in a major study .
"The result is this: a series of commitments have been made, and most countries are not going to meet them," AFP Majid Ezzati, a professor at the Emperial School London, told AFP. School of Public Health.
Only 35 nations are on track to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3.4 – launched in 2015 – for women and even less for men, the study reveals.
"International donors and national governments are doing too little to reduce deaths from noncommunicable diseases," said Ezzati.
The good news, he added, is that most countries are at least going in the right direction.
But about 20 states – 15 for women and 24 for men – stagnate or recede.
This selective chess group only includes one rich nation: the United States.
A very important study published last year in the American Journal of Public Health showed that the increase in premature deaths was particularly strong among white and rural Americans, described by the authors as "an epidemic of despair."
"It boils down to the weakness of public health, the weakness of the health system, the high levels of inequality," Ezzati said.
– Low public health –
In all age groups, noncommunicable diseases kill more than 40 million people a year worldwide, or seven deaths out of ten.
Of these, 17 million are classified as "premature" or before the age of 70.
"We are falling into a sick future because of very little progress in noncommunicable diseases," said Katie Dain of the NCD Alliance.
The report "NCD Countdown 2030", published in The Lancet before the United Nations high-level meeting on noncommunicable diseases in New York, "will help to empower governments and donors," she added.
Ezzati rejected the notion that the UN goal could have been too high.
"The fact that 30 countries are on the right track, and 40 or 50 others – depending on sex – are close," he said by phone.
Declining tobacco and alcohol consumption, low blood pressure, good public health system, low levels of inequality – countries that do not succeed
Only four countries – South Korea, Japan, Switzerland and Australia – ranked among the top ten countries for the lowest mortality rates among men and women.
– China is not on the right track –
Spain, Singapore, Portugal, Italy, Finland and France have completed the good podium for women.
For men, the other countries were Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Bahrain, Canada and New Zealand.
The United States ranked 53rd for men and 44th for Chinese women, men and women ranked 80th and 76th, respectively.
The study reveals that China is not on track to reach this goal, but that its rates of NCD are decreasing, even though rates of obesity and high blood pressure are on the rise.
Smoking rates have stabilized but remain high, especially among men. Smoking makes one million victims in China each year.
"China has the capacity to do a lot in tobacco and alcohol management, with industries largely owned by the state," Ezzati said.
"They are also rich enough that the treatment of hypertension is insignificant."
In sub-Saharan Africa, noncommunicable diseases account for a smaller share of deaths than infectious diseases such as AIDS and tuberculosis.
But mortality rates from NCDs are still much higher than in most middle-income and affluent countries and should not be overlooked, according to the authors.
"In any case, it would be inappropriate and non-strategic not to incorporate noncommunicable diseases in strengthening the global health system," said Ezzati.
"We should tell donors and aid agencies:" Focus on the global health system rather than the disease with the disease. "
© 2018 AFP
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